Coal and Solar Call a Truce

It’s no secret that those employed by the coal or oil and gas industries look at their counterparts in the renewable energy sector as their rivals. Now, a Colorado-based program extends an olive branch that could assuage the animosity.

Workers from the SEI program on location in Colorado.—SEI photo

The idea might be hard for some to accept, but has the potential to benefit everyone: re-train workers coal, oil, and gas positions with the necessary skills to install solar panels. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment awarded Solar Energy International (SEI), based in Paonia, Colo., a $400,000 matching grant as part of a program to help workers furloughed from other energy sector jobs that are in decline. SEI used the grant to kickstart Solar Ready Colorado, aimed to train currently unemployed miners, veterans and workers in the oil and gas industry.

The goal is to recruit and train 350 people for various jobs in the solar industry. Students can take a single course as an introduction to solar power or more than 200 hours of training in the Solar Professionals Certificate Program.

SEI representatives explained the value of coal miners because of their focus on safety and experience with mechanics and electrical engineering, skills that can easily be transferred to the solar industry.

A gathering at the SEI Solar Ready Colorado campus—SEI photo

“People are becoming more and more open to it because they’re starting to realize it’s just another part of the energy sector,” Chris Turek, a spokesman for SEI, told the Associated Press. “At the end of the day, we need electricity, and that need for electricity is just growing.”

Now, the hope would be to mimic this idea for other jobs in the renewable energy industry, such as wind turbine repair or hydroelectric maintenance.

Stuart Sanderson, who is president of the Colorado Mining Association, said other jobs like the solar industry usually don’t pay as much as jobs in the oil and gas industry or coal mining. The average mining job in Colorado paid $91,000 in 2015, according to the National Mining Association. Solar installers can make up to $25 an hour, or about $50,000 a year.

Colorado has about 5,000 solar jobs, mainly installers, and 400 solar companies, according to the Solar Foundation. Those Colorado solar jobs are also expected to grow by 10 percent.

About Charlie Barks

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

[…] Sponsored by billboard companies like Milwaukee Tool and 3M, IBEW and NECA are spearheading a program designed to inspire potential future workers in the trades, aiming for children in the middle school range. One of the first steps to that goal is aligning new skills (like the duties of a solar panel installer) with the agendas of trade schools and engineering programs. This is slowly occurring across the country through various methods. […]